Put on Your Gospel Shoes
Put on Your Gospel Shoes
I did not say put on your dancing shoes though that may do well to some of us who are so uptight and depressed. Some believe “real Christians” don’t dance. Maybe they have not read the Bible. “Make a joyful noise to the Lord’. “Let them praise His name with the dance; Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp”. That is just a by-the-way conversation on dancing, another weapon in our arsenal. We are focused on spiritual warfare and today, we are being asked to put on our shoes of the gospel of peace for the purpose of standing strong. Satan, our enemy wants to trip us to fall.
Let’s read it directly from Apostle Paul in Ephesians 6:10-15:
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,[c] against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
“Feet prepared for – a soldier’s shoes were vital, not for running but for standing strong. They had cleats to dig into the ground in order to stand firm”. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. In Christ alone we have PEACE - the gospel of peace.
What is the Gospel?
The gospel is not your testimony of how God blessed you with a BMW with no money down. By the way you forgot to tell us that you are now swimming in debt that is way over your head. Let’s cut our coats according to our sizes and spend within our means and have some left to bless others. The gospel is the person of Jesus Christ. We must tell people who Jesus is; what He choose to do on the cross and that He did not remain in the grave but rose again and now lives forever. Your testimony though wonderful will not save any soul; only Christ crucified will. Listen to Paul:
“22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks[b] foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 1 Corinthians 1:22-25.
Christ had to live a perfect and sinless life in order to meet all requirements for a perfect sacrifice. Who wants to sacrifice a sinful man for sinful people? He might as well kill and punish all who have sinned. It is only the perfect for the imperfect. That is the good news (gospel). Christ met all requirements of the law for punishment for sin. He has paid in full forever for our sins. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Do you agree you have sinned?
We must stand on the gospel and preach the good news to others. Is it possible that we are not telling people because we have not yet fully understood the gospel in its simple terms – Christ crucified? Maybe our daily lives are not consistent with our confession of the gospel? Forgiveness is the result of the gospel. Our refusal to forgive those who have hurt us signals a shallow understanding and comprehension of the gospel. There is no way you will tell others the gospel when you harbor bitterness and unforgiveness. Not forgiving says I have not truly believed and received God's forgiveness.
Am I judging others while at the same time saying that Christ has taken my judgment for me? Oswald Chambers says, "Live constantly reminding yourself of the judgment seat of Christ, and walk in the knowledge of the holiness He has given you. Tolerating a wrong attitude toward another person causes you to follow the spirit of the devil, no matter how saintly you are. One carnal judgment of another person only serves the purposes of hell in you. Bring it immediately into the light and confess, “Oh, Lord, I have been guilty there.” If you don’t, your heart will become hardened through and through". I had to do so this week when someone really hurt me big time. I saw my heart hardening towards this person and I did not like it.
Do you want to resist the devil? First believe and trust the gospel – Christ crucified. Then talk about Jesus Christ. There is nothing else worth talking about. Some of us glow in talking about our favorite sports and teams, favorite TV soaps, music, movies, sales and discounts and our careers, children, spouses etc.; but numb when it comes to talking about Jesus Christ. Not that we can never talk about any of the mentioned. Answer for someone – Who is Jesus? Let Jesus take it from there.
But hello, when will you tell people about the One who is in love with you with an everlasting unconditional love? Maybe you don’t talk about Jesus because you are not really in love with Him but in love with the things He gives. Listen to Apostle Paul:
“17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him”. 2 Corinthians 5:17-20.
Let’s stand and having done all things to stand on the gospels of Jesus Christ crucified and proclaim Him to the whole world. Like Paul, “16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,[a] for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith”. Romans 1:16-17.
“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear”. 1 Peter 3:15. You and I do not have options in this matter but to speak of the HOPE we have which is Christ Jesus crucified, buried, rose again and coming back to take us to where He is with the His Father and our Father. Do you have the HOPE, then stand in Christ and tell of HIM. Amen
Pray and ask God to show you just one person you need to tell who Christ is before this year ends. May God grant us boldness to do so. Amen.
I did not say put on your dancing shoes though that may do well to some of us who are so uptight and depressed. Some believe “real Christians” don’t dance. Maybe they have not read the Bible. “Make a joyful noise to the Lord’. “Let them praise His name with the dance; Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp”. That is just a by-the-way conversation on dancing, another weapon in our arsenal. We are focused on spiritual warfare and today, we are being asked to put on our shoes of the gospel of peace for the purpose of standing strong. Satan, our enemy wants to trip us to fall.
Let’s read it directly from Apostle Paul in Ephesians 6:10-15:
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,[c] against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
“Feet prepared for – a soldier’s shoes were vital, not for running but for standing strong. They had cleats to dig into the ground in order to stand firm”. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. In Christ alone we have PEACE - the gospel of peace.
What is the Gospel?
The gospel is not your testimony of how God blessed you with a BMW with no money down. By the way you forgot to tell us that you are now swimming in debt that is way over your head. Let’s cut our coats according to our sizes and spend within our means and have some left to bless others. The gospel is the person of Jesus Christ. We must tell people who Jesus is; what He choose to do on the cross and that He did not remain in the grave but rose again and now lives forever. Your testimony though wonderful will not save any soul; only Christ crucified will. Listen to Paul:
“22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks[b] foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 1 Corinthians 1:22-25.
Christ had to live a perfect and sinless life in order to meet all requirements for a perfect sacrifice. Who wants to sacrifice a sinful man for sinful people? He might as well kill and punish all who have sinned. It is only the perfect for the imperfect. That is the good news (gospel). Christ met all requirements of the law for punishment for sin. He has paid in full forever for our sins. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Do you agree you have sinned?
We must stand on the gospel and preach the good news to others. Is it possible that we are not telling people because we have not yet fully understood the gospel in its simple terms – Christ crucified? Maybe our daily lives are not consistent with our confession of the gospel? Forgiveness is the result of the gospel. Our refusal to forgive those who have hurt us signals a shallow understanding and comprehension of the gospel. There is no way you will tell others the gospel when you harbor bitterness and unforgiveness. Not forgiving says I have not truly believed and received God's forgiveness.
Am I judging others while at the same time saying that Christ has taken my judgment for me? Oswald Chambers says, "Live constantly reminding yourself of the judgment seat of Christ, and walk in the knowledge of the holiness He has given you. Tolerating a wrong attitude toward another person causes you to follow the spirit of the devil, no matter how saintly you are. One carnal judgment of another person only serves the purposes of hell in you. Bring it immediately into the light and confess, “Oh, Lord, I have been guilty there.” If you don’t, your heart will become hardened through and through". I had to do so this week when someone really hurt me big time. I saw my heart hardening towards this person and I did not like it.
Do you want to resist the devil? First believe and trust the gospel – Christ crucified. Then talk about Jesus Christ. There is nothing else worth talking about. Some of us glow in talking about our favorite sports and teams, favorite TV soaps, music, movies, sales and discounts and our careers, children, spouses etc.; but numb when it comes to talking about Jesus Christ. Not that we can never talk about any of the mentioned. Answer for someone – Who is Jesus? Let Jesus take it from there.
But hello, when will you tell people about the One who is in love with you with an everlasting unconditional love? Maybe you don’t talk about Jesus because you are not really in love with Him but in love with the things He gives. Listen to Apostle Paul:
“17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him”. 2 Corinthians 5:17-20.
Let’s stand and having done all things to stand on the gospels of Jesus Christ crucified and proclaim Him to the whole world. Like Paul, “16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,[a] for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith”. Romans 1:16-17.
“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear”. 1 Peter 3:15. You and I do not have options in this matter but to speak of the HOPE we have which is Christ Jesus crucified, buried, rose again and coming back to take us to where He is with the His Father and our Father. Do you have the HOPE, then stand in Christ and tell of HIM. Amen
Pray and ask God to show you just one person you need to tell who Christ is before this year ends. May God grant us boldness to do so. Amen.
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